FREE PLAN
[SITE] Wynwood, Miami, Florida
[COMPLETION DATE] December 2020
[ABSTRACT] A foundational principle for architectural modernism in the 1920’s is the “free plan” which organizes space via independent walls, instead of enclosed rooms, and uses the interior to host structural assemblies eliminating the need for exterior load-bearing walls. This method of skeletal design opened inside space to the outside, with a blurred layer of transparency between the two. The building gained exposure to natural sunlight, through large glass windows and doors, and manipulated breezes through the incorporation of deep verandas and unconnected walls. The lack of division in the interior allowed programmatic flexibility and communal space sharing.
100 years later, modern architecture is expressed through a culture of privatization and individualism, buildings are designed to maximize the lot, keep out neighbors, and separate each member of the family into their private, isolated realms. What if the contemporary field revived the Free Plan with the intention of promoting communication and sharing within the home by eliminating unnecessary rooms and walls? What if houses were designed with maximum transparency to nature to capture and manipulate sunlight and breezes? What if homes were smaller and incorporated larger yards enhancing local ecology and decreasing atmospheric temperatures? “Free Plan” is a human-scale installation that invites visitors to walk through one of the greatest iterations of the Free Plan, Mies Van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion, to experience a physical sensation of open-air, open plan structures. The dream-like illusion of the translucent barriers puts visitors in the threshold between the visible and the invisible, promoting a spiritual reflection on space, and how buildings affect our society and this earth so greatly.
The public installation sits in a neighborhood which culturally promotes and legally permits graffiti art. The work inevitably became a member of the community, as strangers collaborated to create perfect randomization of color and shape. Every day the space was different, and every hour, as the sun changed its position, the design expressed itself in a new form. “Free Plan” evolved into an experiment on contextualism in which structures are designed to adapt to their environment, gracefully camouflaging themselves in with the cultural and physical surroundings.
The drastic transition the fabric walls took on reminded me of how drastically the field of architecture has transitioned since modernism was invented 100 years ago. While carrying the same name, “modern architecture” no longer reflects its original identity.
The contributing artists are unknown.
And the evolution continued….
